In general, litter boxes for use by, for example, cats, comprise an open box like structure which is filled with a litter of granular material. Cats instinctively use such boxes to relieve themselves of their waste, which, over a period of time, becomes odoriferous. Such litter boxes are generally placed within the house or other building and, as a consequence, require periodic cleaning, to abate the odor. Some makers of the litter material incorporate a deodorant therein, which, at least to some extent, retards odor emissions. However, the animal waste must be removed periodically and clean litter material added.
There are numerous ways in which the litter box is cleaned and the litter replenished, the gamut thereof extending from a simple scoop to extremely complex mechanism such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,461B1 of Thaler, U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,661B1 of Emery, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,369B2 of Carlisi, as well as numerous others. These complex arrangements are not only apparently too expensive for the ordinary homeowner, but apparently can only be justified where there are large numbers of cats to be accommodated. As a consequence, effort has been directed toward simplification of the litter box cleaning or emptying mechanism. Such mechanisms are generally directed to dumping the contents of the litter box into a waste receptacle while avoiding any contact with the operator's hands, in other words, a reasonably simple and clean method of emptying the litter box is achieved. Such arraignments are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,394B1 of Sexton and U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,137B1 of Ricke. The Sexton patent is a special interest for its simplicity and ease of use. In the Sexton patent, the litter box sits atop a waste receiving box having a trash bag contained therein. When the litter box is lifted up, the floor thereof, which comprises first and second opposed trap doors, is opened and the waste litter drops into the trash bag. The assembly comprises an outer shell which contains the trash bag and an inner shell which contains the litter and which fits snugly within the outer shell, thereby holding the hinged trap doors of the floor of the inner shell closed. When the inner shell is lifted up from the outer shell, the trap doors have room in which to swing open, and then the litter drops into the trash bag, which is then removed and replaced by a fresh bag. The inner shell is then reinserted into the outer shell, which action closes the trap doors, and fresh litter is then introduced into the inner shell.
In most, if not all of the apparatuses, thus far discussed, one very important consideration appears to have been virtually ignored. In general, the boxes rest upon the floor, thus making it difficult for elderly people or people confined to wheel chairs or otherwise handicapped in such a way that stooping and lifting are difficult and often very painful. In the Ricke patent, the apparatus comprises a cabinet having a litter pan on the top thereof and pivotally mounted at one end to the cabinet. When the end opposite the pivoted end is lifted, an open slot is formed adjacent the pivoted end and the litter is dumped into a trash receptacle in the bottom of the cabinet. Thus, the litter box can be emptied by a person without requiring him or her to stoop or squat in order to clean the box. Because the litter in the Ricke arrangement has some distance to drop, it is necessary to have some sort of guiding arrangement. Further, a certain amount of dirty litter is likely, over time, to fall into the cabinet. The cabinet itself is a piece of furniture and apparently is unusually heavy. Further, the floor of the litter box adjacent its pivot end fits snugly against the inner wall of the cabinet. Thus a certain amount of precision is required to prevent a small gap from spilling litter. On the other hand, the Ricke patent has an elevated litter box, which enables those people having various handicaps, as pointed out before, to empty the litter box without having to bend over, stoop, or lift a heavy box.
What is apparently missing in the prior art is a lightweight, simple but efficient elevated litter box structure, that can be moved to different locations, and that can be broken into component parts when not needed and readily re-assembled when subsequently needed, and wherein the litter box itself is supported by a lightweight structure.